Turkey plans to nationalize information infrastructure, says minister

ANKARA

AA photo

Critical work is continuing to nationalize Turkey’s information infrastructure in a bid to keep online data within the country to enhance further data security, Transportation, Maritime Affairs and Communication Minister Ahmet Arslan has said.

“We will store the data of social media organizations such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in Turkey and ensure the security of our citizen’s data,” he told Anadolu Agency on Jan. 16. 

Arslan said they prioritized the establishment of data centers in Turkey and were cooperating with the related Communication General Directorate on the issue. Underlining that they had accelerated works to extend national infrastructure in information technologies, Arslan said they were providing R&D initiatives for national software and hardware systems.

A decree law on incentives for data centers to be built in Turkey by the private sector went into force on Nov. 22, 2016, when it was published in the Official Gazette.

“The national estate under the Finance Ministry will provide free-of-charge land allocation, cheap electricity, a reduction in the premiums to be taken from employees and tax reductions for companies, according to the Decree Law. We have prioritized the establishment of national data centers to store Turkey’s data, particularly our citizens’ data in our country,” said Arslan.


‘New jobs to emerge’

Underlining that they planned to store Turkish citizens’ data used by international social media organizations in Turkey by increasing the number of domestic data centers and through cost reductions, Arslan said important works were continuing to nationalize Turkey’s information infrastructure.

“We will store the data of social media organizations such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram in Turkey and ensure the security of our citizen’s data. We will prevent the data, including Turkish people’s personal inclinations, from being stored abroad,” he said.

Arslan also said new jobs would be created in the industry with the rise in the number of data centers.

“New employment areas will emerge in the Turkish software sector. Our support to the works on establishing public data centers is important for public-private sector cooperation. The rapid establishment of data centers is also necessary for cyber security. We have to be prepared for cyberattacks and renew and update ourselves in line with advanced software technologies. In this regard, it is important to nationalize our information infrastructure,” he said. 


Indigenous base station production to start

Touching on their domestic base station works within the scope of the nationalization works, Arslan said the 4.5G tender was significant in this sense.

Recalling that they had introduced the obligation to use domestic production in the 4.5G tender at the rates of 30 percent domestic production in the first year, 40 percent in the second year and 45 percent in the third year, Arslan said: “The first year of 4.5G mobile communication, which was launched on April 1, 2016, will end on April 1, 2017. The ICTA will inspect whether the obligation for 30 percent of the production to be domestic has been met. Therefore, the companies are placing great importance on domestic base station production.”